Computer systems typically generate a single error message when an error or other failure occurs. The error message generated may be reported by storing the error message in a data file, displaying the error message to a user of the system, or triggering an alarm or other mechanism for indicating that an error occurred. The error message may indicate that a hardware failure occurred or that a particular operation cannot be performed.
In existing systems, a single error message is generated to inform the system user as to the cause or source of the error. These existing systems generally use one of two different approaches in reporting or displaying error messages. One approach generates an error message that is very general (e.g., "cannot save" or "unable to access device"). These general error messages are relevant in that they inform the user that the selected function or operation cannot be performed. However, general error messages do not identify the source or cause of the error, which is necessary to properly diagnose and correct the problem.
Another approach to error reporting provides a detailed error message (e.g., "bad sector" or "incorrect driver software version"). These detailed error messages identify the source of the error or problem, but do not provide information as to how the error relates to the function or operation that the user tried to invoke.
Thus, both approaches discussed above fail to provide complete error reporting to the user of the system. It is therefore desirable to provide a system that provides more complete error reporting, which allows a user of the system to identify the source of the error or problem as well as identify the relevance of the error to the function or operation that the user tried to invoke.